RobotCode - The Ultimate Robot Framework Toolset

What is RobotCode?

RobotCode is a complete Robot Framework toolkit: a language server, IDE extensions for VS Code and the JetBrains platform, a powerful command-line interface, and a unified robot.toml-based configuration model. It is designed for everyday Robot Framework work — from your first keyword to scaling multi-team test suites in CI.

Built on Robot Framework Core, RobotCode is developed in close collaboration with the Robot Framework Core team and supported by the Robot Framework Foundation.

Key Features

Editor / IDE

• Code intelligence — completion for keywords, variables, libraries, and resources; hover documentation; go-to-definition; find references; signature help.
• Keywords explorer — browse, navigate, and insert keywords from imported libraries and resources via a dedicated sidebar view.
• Refactoring — project-wide rename of keywords, variables, and arguments.
• Live diagnostics — errors and warnings as you type, out of the box. Optional Robocop integration adds further linting and formatting checks on top.
• Debugging — Robot Framework debugging via the Debug Adapter Protocol, with breakpoints in keywords and step-through control.
• Syntax highlighting — full Robot Framework grammar including embedded arguments, Python expressions, and environment variables with defaults.
• Snippets — quick insertion of common Robot Framework patterns.
• Test view — discover, run, debug, and inspect Robot Framework tests in the editor's test panel.
• Interactive REPL & .robotbook notebooks — try keywords live in a REPL or work in a Jupyter Notebook-style notebook format.
• Multi-root workspaces — manage multiple projects with different Python environments side by side.

Configuration

One configuration model that follows your project from the editor into CI — no scattered command-line flags, no duplicated setups.

• A single source of truth — paths, variables, Python paths, listeners, modifiers, and every Robot Framework option live in robot.toml (or pyproject.toml). Editor, CLI, and CI all read the same setup; personal tweaks stay out of git via .robot.toml.
• Profiles for every scenario — keep dev, staging, CI, OS-specific, or browser-specific settings as named overlays. Activate with a single flag, layer them, inherit between them.
• Total transparency — see exactly what Robot Framework will receive after all files, profile overlays, and CLI flags are merged.
• Schema-guided editing — autocomplete and validation while you write your config catches typos and unsupported keys before you run.

Command line

A complete command-line toolkit that knows your project as well as the editor does — same robot.toml, same profiles, same Python environment — so what runs in the IDE runs the same way on the CLI and in CI.

• Run with everything wired up — execute Robot Framework with your profiles, paths, variables, listeners, and modifiers automatically applied.
• Find tests by anything — search and filter suites, tasks, tags, sources, documentation, or even keyword calls inside test bodies, and narrow the run accordingly.
• Drill into failures fast — explore logs, stats, and diffs across runs, and compare today's run against yesterday's in a single command — without ever parsing output.xml by hand.
• CI gates with editor-quality diagnostics — project-wide static analysis that matches what you see while typing; reclassify, mask, or ignore categories per project.
• Docs that actually find your project — library and keyword documentation that resolves your project's resources, custom libraries, and Python paths the way Robot itself does.
• Live experimentation — try keywords interactively inside your project's environment before they land in a test.
• Built for automation — every command can speak JSON, so CI pipelines, dashboards, AI agents, and other tools consume the output without screen-scraping.

For the complete feature reference, see the official documentation.

Requirements

Runtime (always required):

• Python 3.10 or newer
• Robot Framework 5.0 or newer

Supported combinations: each Robot Framework version is supported with the Python versions that it officially supports itself:

RobotCode's CI tests only these combinations, to keep the effort low. Other combinations may work, but using them is your own responsibility. For example, Robot Framework versions before 7.5 may not work with Python 3.15.

Editor / IDE — any LSP-capable editor works. For the dedicated extensions you need one of:

• Visual Studio Code 1.131.0 or newer
• PyCharm / IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1 or newer

Other editors (Neovim, Sublime Text, Helix, Emacs, …) connect to the language server via the languageserver extra from PyPI — see Command Line and Other Editors below.

Getting Started

Visual Studio Code

1. Install the RobotCode Extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace.
2. Continue with the Getting Started Guide for setup, your first robot.toml, and running your first test.

Extensions: RobotCode declares dependencies on the Python and Python Debugger extensions so VS Code installs them when required. Additional extensions may be needed depending on your project.

IntelliJ IDEA or PyCharm

1. Install the RobotCode Plugin — choose one of:

   • Built-in Plugin Marketplace: Settings/Preferences > Plugins > Marketplace > search for "RobotCode" > Install.
   • JetBrains Marketplace: click Install to ... if your IDE is running.
   • Manual: download the latest release and use Settings/Preferences > Plugins > ⚙️ > Install plugin from disk....

2. Continue with the Getting Started Guide for setup, your first robot.toml, and running your first test.

Plugins: RobotCode declares a dependency on LSP4IJ so your IDE installs it automatically. Additional plugins may be required depending on your project needs.

Command Line and Other Editors

For CI pipelines, the command line, or LSP-compatible editors like Neovim, Sublime Text, or Helix, install RobotCode from PyPI. The base robotcode package is only the CLI core; the actual commands live in extras such as runner, analyze, debugger, languageserver, and repl:

pip install "robotcode[runner,analyze]"

Pick the extras that match your use case — see Get Started on the Command Line for the commands each extra brings, installing with pip or uv and a first run, and the CLI reference for every command and option.

Documentation

For detailed instructions, visit our official documentation. Additional resources:

• Q&A: Answers to common questions about RobotCode.
• Guides: How to work with RobotCode in VS Code, in PyCharm and on the command line, how to set up projects with robot.toml, and tips for Robot Framework code.
• Command Line Tools Reference: Comprehensive documentation on using RobotCode's CLI tools.
• Changelog: Track changes, updates, and new features in each release.
• Support & Contribute: Ways to back the project — financial, code, feedback.

Sponsor RobotCode

RobotCode is driven by the passion of its lead developer and a growing community. Financial support keeps the project sustainable and lets us continue adding features, improving stability, and expanding the ecosystem.

Individual:

• GitHub Sponsors – monthly or one-time
• Open Collective – one-time or recurring

Corporate:

• Open Collective – direct, transparent, invoices, public ledger
• Robot Framework Foundation membership – ecosystem support, indirectly benefits RobotCode

Get Involved

You don't need to sponsor to help. Every contribution — feedback, code, advocacy — moves the project forward.

• Star the repository
• Leave a review on the VS Code Marketplace and JetBrains Marketplace
• Ask questions & help others on Slack #robotcode, the Forum, or Discussions
• Report bugs in the issue tracker
• Try the dev builds and report what you find
• Suggest enhancements or features (issues or Discussions)
• Share usage patterns & integration ideas in Discussions
• Improve tests (edge cases, large suites, multi-root, versions)
• Contribute code (good first issue / help wanted)

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

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